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Friday, November 20, 2015

Vatican City, 20 November 2015 (VIS) –
This morning the president of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko was received
in audience by the Holy Father Francis. He subsequently met with
Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, accompanied by Archbishop
Paul Richard Gallagher, secretary for Relations with States.

The cordial discussions, in reaffirming
the good relations between the Holy See and Ukraine, were dedicated
principally to matters connected with the situation of conflict in
the country. In this respect the hope was shared that, with the
commitment of all the interested Parties, political solutions may be
favoured, starting with the full implementation of the Minsk Accords.
At the same time, concern was expressed regarding the difficulties of
facing the humanitarian crisis, with particular reference to access
for specialised organisations to areas affected by hostilities, to
healthcare, to the exchange of prisoners, and the economic and social
repercussions of the conflict, experienced throughout the territory.

The meeting provided an opportunity to
highlight the important role of the Church in society, as well as the
contribution of the Greek Catholic and Latin rite communities to the
life of the country.

Vatican City, 20 November 2015 (VIS) –
This morning Pope Francis received in audience the prelates of the
Episcopal Conference of Germany at the end of their “ad Limina”
visit. At the end of the audience the Holy Father handed them a
written discourse in which he thanks the German Church for the
support given in the form of many works of charity which benefit
thousands of people throughout the world. He also mentions that in
this exceptional moment, in which large numbers of migrants are
arriving in Europe, fleeing from war and persecution, the Christian
Churches and many other citizens in Germany have welcomed them warmly
offering them assistance and human closeness. Finally, he refers to
the erosion of Catholic faith in Germany and the greatly reduced
participation in the sacraments and in Sunday Mass in recent decades.

Francis writes that there are great
differences not only between the Catholic communities in east and
west Germany, but also between north and south, although everywhere
the Church is committed with professionalism in social and charitable
fields and is very active also in education. On the other hand, in
traditionally Catholic regions there has been a major decline in
participation in Sunday Mass, as well as in sacramental life. While
during the 1960s almost all the faithful participated in Holy Mass
every Sunday, now there is attendance of often less than ten per
cent, and fewer partake in the sacraments, especially Reconciliation,
which has all but disappeared.

In this situation, the Pope emphasises
that first it is necessary to overcome this “paralysing
resignation”. Although “certainly it is not possible to rebuild
from the relics of the good times past … we can be inspired by the
life of the first Christians”, such as Priscilla and Aquila, St.
Paul's faithful collaborators, who bore witness “with convincing
words, but above all with their life, that the truth based on
Christ's love for His Church, is truly worthy of faith. They opened
up their house for the proclamation of the Gospel”. The example of
these “volunteers”, he writes, “can make us reflect,
considering the tendency towards a growing institutionalisation. New
structures are always being inaugurated, for which in the end there
is a lack of faithful. It is a sort of new pelagianism, which leads
us to place our trust in administrative structures, in perfect
organisations. An excessive centralisation, instead of helping, can
complicate the life of the Church and her missionary dynamic. The
Church is not a closed system that always revolves around the same
questions. The Church is living, and she presents herself to men in
their own situations; she knows how to unsettle and to inspire”.

“The current imperative is pastoral
conversion, that is, ' a renewal of structures … as part of an
effort to make them more mission-oriented, to make ordinary pastoral
activity on every level more inclusive and open, to inspire in
pastoral workers a constant desire to go forth'. … We must stay
among the people with the ardour of those who were the first to
welcome the Gospel. And 'whenever we make the effort to return to the
source and to recover the original freshness of the Gospel, new
avenues arise, new paths of creativity open up … words with new
meaning for today's world”.

“In this context of new
evangelisation, it is indispensable for the bishop to diligently
perform his function as a teacher of the faith – of the faith
transmitted and experienced in the living communion of the universal
Church – in the many fields of his pastoral ministry”, he
continues. “Fidelity to the Church and to the Magisterium does not
contradict academic freedom, but requires a humble attitude of
service to the gifts of God. The 'sentire cum Ecclesia' must
characterise in particular those who educate and form the new
generations”.

Parish communities are places where
faith is experienced and lived most fully, he adds. “Sacramental
life must be one of the bishop's fundamental concerns”. In this
regard the Pope highlights two points: Confession and Eucharist.
“Confession is the place where the gift of God's forgiveness and
mercy is given. In Confession, there begins the transformation of
each Christian and the reform of the Church. I trust that greater
attention will be given to this Sacrament, which is so important for
spiritual renewal, in diocesan and parochial pastoral planning during
the Holy Year, and also afterwards. It is also necessary always to
emphasise the close relationship between the Eucharist and the
priesthood. Pastoral plans that do not accord sufficient importance
to priests in their ministry of governing, teaching and sanctifying
with regard to the structure and the sacramental life of the Church,
experience teaches us, are destined to fail”.

Finally, “a task of the Bishops that
is never sufficiently appreciated is commitment to life. The Church
must never tire of being an advocate for life and must not take steps
back in her announcement that human life is to be protected
unconditionally from the moment of conception until natural death.
Here we must never make compromises, as otherwise we too become
accomplices to the unfortunately widespread throwaway culture”.

Vatican City, 20 November 2015 (VIS) –
The Congregation for the Clergy, whose prefect is Cardinal Beniamino
Stella, has organised a congress at the Pontifical Urbanian
University in Rome to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the
promulgation of the Vatican Council II decrees “Optatum totius”
and “Presbyterorum ordinis”, dedicated to the formation of
priests. At the closing of the Congress Pope Francis received the
participants in audience this morning in the Sala Regia. The
following are extensive extracts of his address.

“Given that the vocation to the
priesthood is a gift that God gives to some for the good of all, I
would like to share with you some thoughts, starting form the
relationship between priests and other people, following on from no.3
of 'Presbyterorum ordinis', in which there is a little compendium of
the theology of priesthood, from the Letter to the Hebrews: 'Priests,
who are taken from among men and ordained for men in the things that
belong to God in order to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins,
nevertheless live on earth with other men as brothers' amid brothers.
Let us consider these three moments: 'taken from among men',
'ordained for men', and present among other men”.

“The priest is a man who is born in a
certain human context: there he learns the primary values, absorbs
the spirituality of the people, grows accustomed to relations.
Priests also have a history, they are not 'mushrooms' that suddenly
appear in the Cathedral on the day of their ordination. It is
important for formators and priests themselves to remember this and
to know how to take into account this personal history along the path
of formation. … A good priest, therefore, is first of all a man
with his own humanity, who knows his own history, with its riches and
its wounds, who has learned to make peace with this, achieving the
fundamental serenity proper to one of the Lord's disciples. Human
formation is therefore a necessity for priests, so that they learn
not to be dominate by their limits, but rather to put their talents
to use”.

“We priests are apostles of joy: we
announce the Gospel, which is the quintessential 'good news'; we
certainly do not give strength to the Gospel – some believe this –
but we can favour or hinder the encounter between the Gospel and
people. Our humanity is a the clay vase in which we conserve God's
treasure, a vase we must take care of, so as to transmit well its
valuable contents”.

“A priest cannot lose his roots: he
always remains a man of the people and the culture that have produced
him; our roots help us to remember who we are and to where Christ has
called us. We priests do not fall from above but are instead called
by God, who takes us 'from among men', to 'ordain us for men'. This
is the second step”.

“Responding to God's call, we become
priests to serve our brothers and sisters. The images of Christ we
take as a point of reference for our ministry as priests are clear:
He is the 'Supreme Priest', at the time close to God and close to
man; He is the 'Servant', Who washes the feet and makes Himself close
to the weakest; and He is the 'Good Shepherd', Who always cares for
His flock”.

“They are the three images we must
look to, thinking of the ministry of priests, sent to serve men, to
bring God's mercy to them, to announce His Word of life. We are not
priests for ourselves, and our own sanctification is closely linked
to that of our people, our anointment with theirs. You have been
anointed for your people. Knowing and remembering that we are
ordained for the people, the holy people of God, helps priests not to
think of themselves, to be authoritative and not authoritarian, firm
but not hard, joyful but not superficial: in short, pastors, not
functionaries. St. Ambrose, in the fourth century, said that where
there is mercy, there is the spirit of the Lord; where there is
rigidity there are only His ministers. The minister without the Lord
becomes rigid, and this is a danger for the people of God”.

“Finally, what is born with the
people must stay with the people. The priests is always among other
men: he is not a professional of pastoral ministry or evangelisation,
who arrives and does what he is supposed to do – perhaps well, but
as if it were a profession like any other – before then going away
and living a separate life. One becomes a priest in order to stay in
the midst of the people. The good that priests can do arises above
all from their closeness and their tender love for people. They are
not philanthropists or functionaries, but fathers and brothers”.